


Hey Brother

by UnchartedFreaks



Category: Uncharted
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-01-19 07:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 17,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1460896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnchartedFreaks/pseuds/UnchartedFreaks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a bunch of short stories of different situations the Drakes go through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Encounter

I stared at the two children who picked my pocket and stole my wallet. They continued to try and escape my grasp as I observed the duo. Their resemblance was remarkable. They've got to be twins. "Let's try that again." I say, tilting my head. "Let go of us!" The boy says as they tried to pull their arms away again. "Ah, that's what I thought. Now don't try to run." I say as I let go of them. The boy gently put his sister behind him and both pairs of blue/grey eyes watched me carefully. They seem to be very protective of each other. "You're a long way from home, kids." I say as they rub the spot on their arms where I held them. They scoffed. "Don't call us that." They both snap at me. Yep, their twins alright. "Parents must be worried about you two." I say, trying to at least get some information of the two teens in front of me. The girl gave a laugh. "Yeah, not likely." She states bitterly. "Okay, sore subject. " I say. "That was a nice lift back there. You two are pretty good." I say, changing the topic to the matter at hand.

The two glance at each other before focusing their attention back to me. "We don't know what you're talking about, old man." The girl says defensively. "Hey. Don't call me that." I say, reciting what the two told me a moment ago. "Your techniques are sloppy though, you two are telegraphing all of your moves." I inform them. The twins looked at me and backed away from me. "You're crazy." They say as they start walking around me. I followed their movement with my own. "Yeah? You two have been tailing me all over town." I say, letting them know that I've had my eyes on them for as long as they've had theirs on me. The two work as a team, neither one the leader. "Probably figured me for an easy mark." I say as we all stop moving. "But you picked the wrong guy, pals." I say as they turn their heads and looked down the empty street and began to back away. "Ah-ah." I warn.

"What?" the boy snaps. "My wallet." I say sternly, holding my hand out. The two put their hands on their hips defiantly. "Fine, maybe we'll just call the police." I threaten, seeing if that would scare the two enough into returning my wallet. They just gave two crooked smirks. "Go ahead." The girl says. "Course, They might wonder why a middle aged tourist is following boys and girls down alleyways." she said as they walked closer to me, crossing their arms. I laughed. "You two are crafty little beggars, aren't you?" I asked them. "We know how to take care of ourselves." They said. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure you don't like the cops any more than we do." the boy counters. I pondered over his words for a moment. "Good point." I say.

They stretched out their arms, palms out, as if to show their point, and turned to try walking off again. "Kids." I said, holding my arm out once again. They turned their bodies sideways and looked at me. "The wallet." I say. They laughed as they shook their heads. The boy took it out of his bag and he threw it to me. "Had to try." the girl shrugged. The boy held his hand out, the girl took it, and they ran off. "Course you two did." I whispered. I smiled and shook my head, thinking I would never see them again.


	2. Prank War

It started out as a normal Saturday in our house in Topeka, Kansas. Sully left for a few days because he had a client that apparently didn't want 'kids' on the job. We're almost 18, for crying out loud! I had been walking up the driveway, mail in hand. I walked through the door only to have freezing cold water come splashing onto me. I stood there in shock, hair matted to my head, clothes stuck to my skin and the now ruined mail in my hands. Lucky, it was nothing but junk. I saw Nate doubled over, laughing.

"You should have seen you're face, Natty! Priceless!" He says as he continues to laugh. I narrowed my eyes and growled. I stomped over to him. "What is wrong with you?!" I yelled, throwing the mail down on the dresser next to us. Nate stopped laughing. "Nat, it was just a prank." He says innocently. I smiled coldly. "You're right. Now, It's a war." I say. Nate spins around and takes off. I laugh and head to my room. I dried my hair and changed clothes. I slowly opened the door and peaked out. I saw that Nate had a plate of food on the kitchen table. He was pouring himself something to drink, his back towards me. I spotted a salt shaker. I smirked to myself as a plan worked itself into my mind. I crouched down and slowly made my way to the table. I reached my hand out and grabbed the salt. I slowly screwed the top loose. I backed away to my room door. Nate turned around.  
"Alright, time to eat!" he says as he sits down with his drink. He grabbed the salt and tipped it gently. The lid came off and salt poured all over his plate. His face twisted in anger. "Natalie Lynn Drake!" He yelled. I laughed as I ducked into my room and locked the door.

Nate pov. 

That girl, I swear! If she wants a war, it's a war she shall have! I need ideas, though. Let's see, she's not scared of any bugs. I smiled to myself. We both share the same fear. Clowns. It wouldn't work though. Natalie's smart. She knows that I would use that against her and she would be prepared. I smile. We got some of that clear plastic wrap and I've seen some funny things you can do with it. I got it and retrieved some duck tape. Watch out, sister.

Nat pov.. 

I laughed as I shut the door. I know that Nate will want revenge and I know the one thing I cannot use. Clowns. We share that fear, he'll be expecting me to use it. I need to think. I chuckle. We got a bag of flour in the kitchen. If i cut the top and place it correctly, it wold work. Revenge for the bucket of water. I chuckle. I'm glad Sully isn't here. The house is about to become a war zone. I went out into the hall and looked at Nate's door. The bag could fit right above it. When he opened it, it would fall. I smirk as I stand on my toes and quietly place the bag. I made a noise that sounded like I fell. "Ow! Nate, I think I hurt my ankle!" I say, pretending to be hurt.

I heard Nate jump out of bed and throw the door open. White smoke covered us. I coughed and waved the smoke out of my face. I saw that Nathan was covered head to toe. He glared at me and ran towards me. I raced for the bathroom door but trip over something. I jumped back up and glared daggers at Nathan. He started laughing until I charged at him and he retreated to the kitchen. I cornered him near the sink when he turn it on and pointed the faucet at me. I covered my face with my hands as water shot at me.

"Dammit, Nathan!" I yelled as I blindly reached for the handle. I managed to break it away from Nate's hands and sprayed it at him. Some of the flour washed away, but he was still covered. He grabbed some of the salt-covered food from earlier and chucked it at me. It hit me in the stomach. "Hmph!" I said as I clutched my stomach. He wrestled it from my hands and proceeded to put me in a choke hold. "Let. Go. Nathan!" I say as I struggle to get away. "What the hell is going on?!" A rough voice shouted. We let go of each other and stood straight. A pissed off Sullivan stared at us. Nate dropped the faucet. "Oh, crap." We say.

Sully Pov.,,

I stood there,fuming at the soaked twins. I glanced around the house. A plate covered in salt was on the table, the food on the floor and a stain on Natalie's shirt. Water and flour was everywhere, broken plastic wrap and duck tape in the hall. I looked down to see a bucket next to me along with soaked carpet. I looked at the twins, who shrank their bodies down in submission as I glared. "Oh! Welcome home, Sully!" Nate stuttered. "We missed you!" Nat added sweetly. "What the hell is this?" I asked as calmly as I could. "Well, Nate pranked me then I pranked him and...it sorta got outta hand." Nat said. "Sorta?! It sorta got out of hand?!" I yelled. 

Nat pov.. 

Nate and I flinched and stepped back. "We're sorry. Really. " Nate says as we back up. Sully sighed. "Just clean this mess up. It's been a long three days." he says as he walks to his room. Nate and I looked at each other and then looked around the destroyed house. "Let's get to work." Nate says as he grabs the mop and I go get the bucket and fill it up with water. I sighed. It's gonna be a while before Sully forgives us on this one. I can feel it.


	3. Snow Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Drake twins see their first ever snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the snow storm that hit us this past winter. We had a total of 22 inches of snow in our yard!

Nat pov..

"Nate! Nate, wake up!" I yell, shaking him. "Ugh. Five more minutes, Natty!" Nate says as he puts the pillow over his head. I grab the pillow and throw it to the other side of the room. He looks at me. "Really?" he asks in disbelief. I cross my arms. "Fine, fine. What is so important that you had to wake me up at the break of dawn?" he asks. I go to the window and pull the curtains back. Snow was falling heavily on to the already snow covered ground. "Whoa!" Nate says as he climbs out of bed and rushes to the window. "Let's go tell Sully!" I say as we rushed into Sully's bedroom. We stopped dead in our tracks and covered our ears as Sully was snoring loudly.

"Sully, wake up! It's snowing!" Nate whispers. He kept snoring. I slap his shoulder gently. He woke with a start. "Kids? What the hell?" he says as he rubs his eyes. We point to the window. "It's snowing!" we both say. "And?" he asks. We put our arms down and I lowered my head. "Nothing. Never mind." I say. He looks at us, puzzled. "You two have never seen snow?" he asks. We shake our heads. "Only on the TV." Nate says. He gets out of the bed. "Your coats are in your closet and your sleds are under your beds." he says. "You are coming?" I ask. He nods. "Go get ready." We nod and race to our room. I pull out my light blue and white toboggan, gloves, and thick jacket. I put my socks and snow boots on.

Nate put on his black toboggan, his black gloves and brown jacket. He put his socks and boots on as well. I got my green sled and Nate got his blue one. "How deep do you think the snow is?" I ask. Nate picked up the ruler. "Let's find out." he says. We step out of the warm house. We carefully made our way down the steps of our porch and into the frozen yard. We put the ruler in the ground. Our eyes went wide. "Twenty inches?!" we say in shock. Sully stepped out onto the porch and he leaned against the house. “That much, huh?” He asks as he leans against the door frame. He had on a light winter jacket, a cup of coffee, boots, and of course he had a cigar. "Won't you get cold?" I ask, heading back to the porch steps. He waves his hand. "Nah. You and your brother go have some fun." he says. "Hey, Natty! Wanna build a snowman?" Nate asks. "Yeah!" I say as I run to Nate

We started rolling snow into a giant ball, and then made a medium sized one, and finally, a small one. We found some rocks and made eyes and a mouth. Sully gave us a baby carrot to use as a nose and a Santa hat to put on his head.. We broke some branches off of a dead tree in the woods behind the house. We placed them into the snowman. "We can name in Sully!" Nate says. I nod. "Then he needs one more thing.." I say as I break off some sticks and tied them together to look like a cigar. I place it on the snowman. Nate and I began to laugh. Sully came over to see what we was laughing about. He looked at the snowman and chuckled. "Not bad, kids. Not bad." he says as he heads back to the porch. 

I lay down in the snow. "What are you doing? You're gonna get sick." Nate said, slightly concerned. "I’m making a snow angel! I've always wanted to do it." I say as I move my legs side to side and my arms up and down. I carefully stand. I looked down at it and smile. "Nice." Nate says. He grabs his sled. "Up for a race?" he asks. I nod as I grab my sled. We run to the top of the hill. "I'll be the judge!" Sully calls out to us. We give a thumbs up. "Ready....set...go!" Sully yells. We went flying down the hill. I would have won, if my sled hadn't hit something and went nose up.  
My body smacked into the snow as the sled went over my head. “Natalie!” Nate screams as I hear footsteps rush towards me. "Natalie?! Are you alright?!" he asks as he helps me up. I nod. "No more racing." Nate says as he grabs the sleds. "Agreed." I nod. I watched Nate as he put the sleds on the porch and explained what happened to Sully. I looked out at the neighborhood. I took in a breath of the cold air and watched as my breath looked like smoke. "What next?" I ask as I turn to face Nate. Instead of seeing his face, a snowball blinded me. I wipe the snow away from my eyes and saw that Nate had took off running. I smile mischievously. "It's on, Nathan!" I yell as I chase him. I stop only to quickly make a snowball and chuck it at him. It hits him square in the back. 

Sully began to laugh. We look at each other than to Sully. “Truce?” Nate asks, holding out his hand. “Truce.” I agree, shaking it. We each make a snowball and throw them. They both hit their target, Sully. He stops laughing and walks forward. "You really want to do this, kids?" he asks us. We smile nervously, already regretting our decision. Sully runs down the steps and we blast off, Sully right on our heels.. We scream as Sully finally caught up with us and we were tackled to the ground. We kept on laughing until we started to cry. Sully helps us up as Nate tries to re-adjust his hat and I brush my hair out of my eyes. We were all covered in snow.   
"How about we go in, get out of these soaked clothes, and have ourselves a hot meal?” Sully asks. We nod as we kick our boots against the porch side to try to get any loose snow off. We take them off and place them near the door. We entered our bedroom and prepared to change. I stayed in the room to change while Nate went into the bathroom. I chose my purple shirt and my black pants I put on some black, fuzzy, socks to keep my feet warm and put the ring around my neck. I look into the mirror. “Greatness from small beginnings, alright.” I said as I brush my hair. Once I put my winter gear near the heater to dry, I headed back into the living room. I looked to see that Nate was already in there. He had his ring on as well as a plain brown shirt and black pants. 

"Want some soup and hot chocolate Nat?" Sully asks. "Please." I say. Sully put a warm bowl of soup on the table and placed a steaming mug next to it. “We need to do that again.” I say as I carefully put the spoon into my mouth. Sully chuckled. “With this much snow, I guarantee we’ll have plenty of time to go play in the snow again.” Nate says. Sully joined us at the table as we continued to talk about the snow day. “Just no more sledding, okay?” I say as Nate and Sully laughed.


	4. Christmas out on the streets

Nat pov..  
     It is Christmas Eve in Denver, Colorado. It was Nate and I's first Christmas out on the streets. It's been hard, having to steal just to stay alive but it beats being abused or the fear of being separated. I've saved up some money the generous people give us as they go on about their normal day. It may only be change but money is money and we're grateful for what we do get. My gloves are tattered and my coat is wearing thin but I just don't have enough money this year. I've seen how Nate's been eyeing this leather bound journal in the window of a family owned bookstore nearby. They have gave us the most change since we've been here and I thought it would be nice to spend it there. I exhaled into my hands and warmed them and my face up.  
The giant TV in the furniture store says it's been the coldest this state has been in years. I walk into the bookstore. "Why, hello there Natalie!" Tim, the owner, says as he places a book onto the shelf. " Hello. It sure is cold out there." I say as I smile. He laughs. "You want some hot chocolate?" he asks. "Please." I say. He goes to the back room and comes back with a hot, steaming mug.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            "Thank you so much!" I say as I feel the cup warm my hands. I take a slow sip and feel the warmness rush through my body. "So, what brings you into my humble shop?" he says. "How much is that journal in the window front?" I ask, pointing. "Fifteen dollars." he says. I frown. So much for that idea. He must have noticed. "How much you got?" he asks. I pull the bag of change out of my messenger bag. "Ten flat." I say sadly. "Is it for yourself?" he asks. "No. It's for Nathan. He looked at it every time we past your shop. That's why I saved up all this money." I say. "Tell you what, I'll drop the price to five. Just for you." he says. I smile brightly. "Really?!" He smiles. "Everyone should be happy on Christmas." he says.  
"Thank you so much! My brother and I owe you for all that you have done for us!" I say. He holds a hand up. " Don't worry about it. It's fine." He goes over to the window. He takes the journal and I follow him over to the counter. I hand him the change and he gives me a five dollar bill. "Want me to wrap it? Free of charge." he says. I nod as he wraps it up in blue and white snowflake paper. I take the present, give my thanks and start to head back to the bridge Nate and I chose to make our home. We have a fire, some cardboard to sleep on, and some can food we stole from the store. Plus, we found a crooked, plastic Christmas tree by the dumpster.

Nate pov..  
     I started heading down the empty street to the bookstore that Tim owns. He's a nice man. Helps us get by when times get tough. I look in the window and I noticed the journal was gone. "Oh, crap." I mumble as I open the door and head inside. The warm air felt nice on this cold night. "Hello, Nate. How are you doing?" Tim asks. I nod. "Good, thanks. You sold that journal?" I ask, glancing over. He nods. "Yeah. I noticed how you would look at it every time you and your sister pasted my shop. Sorry." he says.  
"Yeah. It seemed like a good present for Natalie." I say as I look down and put my hand on my bag. Nat's got one that matches mine. We pinched them off at a craft show not so long ago. "I think I've got another one of those journals in the back." he says. I look up at him. "How much is it?" I ask. "Normally around fifteen, but since it's for your sister I'll lower it down to five." he says. I smile. "Thanks."I say gratefully. He starts smirking. What's his idea? "Want me to wrap it?" he asks. I nod. He wrapped it in blue and white snowflake paper. I gave my thanks and headed back to the bridge. 

Nat Pov                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I walked under the bridge just to see Nate coming in on the other side. I hid the present behind my back to see Nate do the same. I wondered what it was but I was to focused on turning around and putting my present in my jacket as Nate went to heat up the cans of beans in an old pot we found. After we eat half a can of beans, we moved the cardboard by the fire. Not to close for it to be a fire danger, but not so far that we wouldn't get warm. I laid down and felt the present lying against my chest. I watched the fire dance and I looked over to see Nate fast asleep. I creep up and place my present under the tree. I head back over and try snuggling down into my filthy jacket to get warm.

Nate pov..                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I awoke to hearing the fire crackle. I noticed that the fire was slowly dying. I got up and placed some firewood into the flames and watched as the flames returned to life. I warmed my hands and glanced under the tree and I noticed a present. I felt in my jacket pocket. My present was still in there. I took it out and placed it under the tree next to the other one. I glance over at Natalie. She was fast asleep, hair falling over one eye. I smile as I go back to lay down. I close my eyes and drift back to sleep. 

Nat pov                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           The light of the rising sun made my eyes flutter open. I sat up and glanced over at the tree to see if my present was still there. It was but I noticed a matching one was beside it. I rubbed my eyes with my gloved hands to make sure my sight wasn't messed up. It better not couldn't afford glasses. I removed my hands only to still see a matching one. "Morning." Nate says as I stand. "Morning. Sleep well?" I ask as I go sit by the fire. He nods as he hands me my half-can of beans. I take a bite. "When we gonna open presents?" I asked. He shrugs. "Whenever." he says as he sits beside me. After we eat, we exchanged gifts. We tore open the paper and we looked up at each other in awe. We got each other the same thing, the journal from Tim's shop. "How much was yours?" I ask. "Five. Yours?" I smirked. "Five." I say. "The same paper, same journal, same price! Nate, he knew!" I say. Nate laughed. "That sneaky devil!" We sat the paper aside. It would make good fire starter tonight. We place the journals in out bags as we stand. Nate hugs me. "Merry Christmas, Natalie." he says. I hug him back. "Merry Christmas, Nathan." I say as we head back out onto the street. We finally got some actual money, now we just got to see if anything's open.


	5. Flirting at the Festival

"Kids, what's going on out there?" Sully asks as he peers out our motel window. We walked over and peer our heads out. We smile. "It's Cartagena's annual summer festival! It's really cool!" I say, smiling brightly. He chuckled. "Sounds like you two have been there before." He stated. Nate nodded. "Best time to sneak food into our pockets. People are too busy listening to the bands or looking at shops in the market." He says. Sully kept quiet for a moment. "You two wanna go?" He asks. We nod. "Sure!" We say as we put our shoes on and exited the motel. We walked down the street where the loud music boomed. "Wait, we can just walk in? Just like that?" Sully asks us. We laugh. "Uh, yeah. How else did you think we got in?" I mock. He laughed as we walked into the busy streets.

We finally got to play some of the fair games we have wanted to play and bought a few items from the craft shops. During all of this, Sully was flirting with every woman he could talk to. Nate and I would roll our eyes or shake our heads at every cheesy pick up line or every over-exaggerated compliment he made. Some women played along while others huffed and walked off. One woman slapped him when he thought he had said something nice to her in Spanish when he had actually called her a fat, ugly cow. Nate and I had laughed over that one for at least five whole minutes.

"You defiantly need to work on your Spanish, Sully!" Nate said as we continued to laugh. He ruffled our hair. That's when he noticed a woman smiling at him. He gave her a grin back and waved at her. She shyly waved back. "C'mon, Sully! Haven't you failed enough already?" Nate said as Sully walked towards her. "Guess not." I say as we stand and watched the two adults. We figured that the conversation wouldn't last more than ten minutes but this time it was different. The woman kept giggling and Sully kept on playing his game. "For the love of.." We say as we roll our eyes. We approached Sully. "Sully, are you ready to go yet?" I ask. He held up a hand. "Just a few more minutes, kids." He says, not even looking at us. The woman turned her eyes to us. No. Please, no.

"Are these two yours?" she asks sweetly. We had been so luck to not have been dragged into this situation until now. Nate and I looked at each other than to Sully. He looked at us puzzled then he smiled as he put his arms around us. "Yeah! This is my son Nathan and my daughter Natalie. Kids, say hello to Maria." He says kindly to us. We glanced from the woman to Sully, We looked at her. "Trust me, you don't want him." I joked. "Yeah, he's way out of your league." Nate agreed. "Oh, is he now?" She playfully says. We nod. Sully laughed and patted us on the head. "Oh, you two are so funny!" he says as he gives a fake laugh. She looked at him, smiling. "I should be going home now. You and your children have fun at the festival, Victor." She says as she walks past him. He turns his head back to her one last time before looking back at us.

We pretended to fiddle with our rings as Sully looked at us. We looked up and gave a sly smirk. "What?" Nate asked innocently "You two think you're funny, don't ya ?" He laughs at us. "Let me correct something, all of the women you've talked to today have been out of your league." I say as we chuckled. "It looks that way, huh?" he says as we began to walk back to our hotel room. "I'm sure they'll be more women you can flirt with." I say, waving my hand. He scoffed. "How would you know that?" He asks, lighting a cigar. Nate turned his head towards him. "You're an old dog! Always barking up the wrong tree!" Nate laughed. We continued to laugh and talk for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my stories, there are two of Sir Francis Drake's rings. Nathan and Natalie both have one. Anyway, on with the story!


	6. Surrendered to the State

“Daddy, where are we going?” I ask. Dad had been on the phone for a while, pacing around the kitchen and running his fingers through his hair. “Just go pack your bags.” He says to us, already annoyed from being on the phone for so long. “Why?” Nate asked. “Dammit, just do it!” he yells. We jump and scramble to our room. Dad had always hit us, but he had hit mommy more. One day, she left and never came back. The nice policemen told us that she had went to a place called heaven. She had told us that she would get us out of here, but she lied. She only got herself out. 

I put the suitcase and tossed it onto my bed I pack some clothes and zipped it up. One hand grabbed the handle while the other grabbed my little, stuffed bear named Teddy. I looked towards Nate. “Where do you think he’s taking us?” I ask him. Nate shrugged. “I don’t know, but we need to go before we get into trouble.” Nate suggests as I nod. We drugged our bags back into the living room. Dad grabbed his keys. “Go get in the car.” Dad says bitterly. We give a quick nod and race for the car. We open the backseats and jump into our car seats. We put our suitcases in the floorboard as Dad got into the driver’s seat. “You two ask any questions and I swear I will pop you right on the lips, do I make myself clear?” he says. We remained silent. “Do I?!” he barks. “Yes sir!” Nate and I say in fear. I clutch Teddy close to my chest. 

Dad pulled into a building and parked. “Come on.” He says as we open the car doors and slide out. We grab our bags and follow Dad to the building. It was a room with many chairs and there was a woman at the desk. Dad walked up to the lady and we followed behind him. The two adults began to whisper to one another. They would glance at us every once in a while but they mostly ignored us. The woman pulled out a clipboard with many papers attached to it. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asks Dad. Nate and I looked at Dad. He scoffed. “If I wasn't, would I be here?” he snapped. The woman glared at him. He sat down and began writing. I looked at the dark-haired lady. “What’s Daddy doing?” I ask her. She sadly looked at us. Once Dad got done, he stood up. He handed the woman the papers and started heading for the door. We took a couple steps forward before Dad turned to us. “No, stay.” He ordered, like he was telling a doggy. “Don’t you at least want to say goodbye?” the woman asked.   
Dad looked at her. “I guess.” He says as he looks down at us. “Bye.” He says as he turns back around and heads for the door. “Daddy?” we ask. He ignores us as he opens the main door. “Daddy!” we yell as we began to cry. He shut the door and went to his car. He backed up and sped out of the parking lot, leaving Nate and I sobbing. 

“Oh, come here.” The woman says as she picked us up. We put our heads in her shoulder as we cry loudly. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s alright, little ones.” She says softly. She put us on the big couch and we huddle together. “What’s gonna happen to us now?” Nate sniffs. The lady looks at us. “Let mo go make a call, okay? You two stay right here.” She says.

She walks over to the desk and dials a number. “Yes, I need to speak to the headmistress immediately. What do you mean she’s busy?! I have two orphans here in my office! Okay, I’ll hold.” She says, tapping her fingers. “Why? Why did he leave us? Why did Mom leave us?” I say, heartbroken. Nate pulls me close. “It doesn't matter. As long as I got you, I’ll be fine.” He says to me. I nod as I hug him. “Same here.” I say. A few minutes passed before a young woman in a black dress and hood approached. “Is this the twins you spoke to the headmistress over the phone?” she asked nicely. The woman nodded. “Yes, this is them.” She says as she turned to us. “Children, this is Sister Alexis.” She says, pointing the woman. “Sister Alexis, this is Nathan and Natalie Grant.” she says as she turns her head to the woman. “Get your bags, children.” Sister Alexis says to us. “Where are you taking us?” Nate asks. “Saint Francis Children’s Home.” She says as she picks up our bags. We looked at each other before following her out the door and to the orphanage.


	7. Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this right before our own power went out. Ironic, isn't it?

I jumped as another roll of thunder shook the house. I looked up as the lights flickered. I sighed. “We better not lose power.” I say as I turn to Nate. “Tell me about it. As much research we have to do…” Nate says, looking up from his book. I peered out the window. Rain was pouring down as lighting lit up the night sky. I frowned. “Looks like it’s getting worse.” I mumble. 

Sully came through the door, bags in hand. “That’s the last goddamn time I go out in this weather.” He states as he puts the bags on the counter and takes off his soaked jacket. We snickered. “What’s the matter, old man? The rain put out one of your cigars?” Nate mocked as I laughed. Sully opened his mouth to make a smart comeback when we were all blinded by a bright light. When it cleared, there was complete darkness. “Ah, crap!” Nate and I say.  
I carefully made my way into the living room and felt for the drawer. Once I found the handle, I pulled it open and felt around for a flashlight. “Here we go.” I say as I picked it up and flipped the switch. I walked back to where Nate and Sully stood. “Alright, now what?” I ask. “There are some oil lamps and a couple of lanterns in the closet.” Sully states. “I’ll get them.” Nate says as we walk to it and swing the door open.

After searching through a couple of cardboard boxes, we found what we were looking for. We removed the old newspaper articles that had been wrapped out them and put them around the house. Sully took out his lighter and went around lighting them all up. We all sat around the coffee table in the living room. “So…” I say awkwardly.   
“What you two wanna do?” Sully asks. Nate shrugs. “I don’t know. Nat and I can’t do research in the dark, even with the lamps!” Nate says. I nod in agreement. Sully chuckles. “Research isn’t everything, kids.” Sully says. We take out our battery powered radio and turn it on. I moved the dials around until the static turned into talking. “-a severe thunderstorm warning is in effect until midnight tonight. People should seek shelter, stay away from windows and doors, and stay off the roads.” The meteorologist was saying. We all glanced at each other. “Anyone hungry? I think we got some chips and crackers in the kitchen.” Nate says. I nod. “I’ll go get them.” I say, getting up off the floor. 

I casually walked into the kitchen and grabbed the junk food. As I closed the cabinet door, thunder boomed and lighting flashed. I jumped back in shock. “Holy crap!” I breathe as I grab the snacks and hurried back into the living room and put the stuff on the table.  
I crossed my legs and rested my back against the couch. ‘What now?” Nate asked with his mouth full of chips. I rolled my eyes at Nate. Sully looked at him. “Nate, don’t talk with your mouth full.” He says, pointing a finger at him. “Oh, he got you, Nathan!” I say, laughing. Sully turned to me and gave me a warning glance. I gave him a crooked grin and raised my hands in mock surrender. Sully laughed. “Hey, I think we got some board games in there!” Nate says, his mouth clear of food. 

Sully raised an eyebrow. “Any objections?” he asks. We shake our heads and Sully gets the games out from below the useless TV. We played game after game, radio blaring music. Eventually, our power was returned. Sully looked up from the board. “Power’s back. I guess you two will wanna continue reading your books.” Sully says as he grabs the box. We looked from the piles of papers and books to the game. “Nah, we’re good.” We say. I picked up the dice. “My turn!” I say, shaking the dice.


	8. Sacrifice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all do crazy things for the ones we love, sometimes it comes at a great cost. Had a sad dream a couple of nights ago that included my Uncharted OC. I thought I would try and put it words. Let me know what you think!

Nate pov..

We were at a old temple, hunting for an ancient artifact our current client wanted. Turns out, the mercenaries that were hired to find the same treasure didn't like company. Sully got separated from us and we were currently firing at the men while trying to find him. My pistol clicked, meaning I was out of ammo. "Crap.." I say. I heard a man chuckle beside me. I turned my head. A man had is own pistol aimed at me two feet away. "Goodbye, Nathan Drake." he says as he gets ready to pull the trigger. I close my eyes and wait for the bullet to hit its mark. I hear the gun fire but I feel no pain. I open my eyes to see Nat's arms spread in front of me and she fell. I caught her under her arms and lowered her down. The man looked shocked and ran away. I put Nat's head on my arm and had my other arm under her waist. She had a bullet wound right in her stomach. I quickly applied pressure to her wound. "H-had to save your ass, once again." she says. "Natty..." I sat softly. 

She coughed. "Like I told you, I would do anything for you. Even take a bullet if only you stayed alive." she says. "No, don't talk like that! You'll be alright, I promise! If we just get you to a hospital..." I drawl. She laughed slightly and patted my cheek. "Nathan, you and I both know that we're a long way from any civilization." she said quietly. "We have to try!" I say as I prepare to stand. "Nate, no." she says as she grabs my arm. She looked at me. dead in the eyes. "Just stay here with me. I don't want to die alone." she says as she looked around. "Not a bad place to die, huh? Quite comfortable." she joked as she coughed once more. I laughed slightly. "You're insane, you know that?" I say. She smiled as her eyes began to droop. "No, no! You can't leave me here alone! I don't know what I'll do without you!" I pled. "Please, stay!" I beg. She put her hand on my face. "You'll be fine, Nathan. You've always been the stronger one..." she says as her eyes close. Her hand fell from my face and smacked against the bloody tiles, and her head turns sideways. resting against my forearm.

I tried to hold it all in, but I scream in fury and sorrow. "No! God, no! Please, Natalie! Come back! Please, come back!" I scream, shaking her. "Kids?" I hear Sully yell. "What in- oh, God." Sully says as he runs over. I gently lay her body down on the ground, my tears landing on her forehead. "Nate, we have to go." Sully says gently. I scowl in anger. "Go?! For what?! Treasure?! My sister's dead because of this! Because of me! It's all my fault, goddammit!" I scream, standing and pacing around. I ran a shaky hand through my hair. This is just a bad dream. It has to be. "Let's just get outta here, kid." Sully says as he puts his hand on my shoulder. I slowly make my way over and pick up Natalie's lifeless body. We walked out of the temple.

A few days later... 3rd person pov..

Nathan Drake walked towards the end of a cliff where a white cross was. "Hey, Natty." he says as he places one of Sir Francis Drake's rings on the cross. "Sorry, it took so long to give this back to you. Had a few things to take care of." He says. looking down. "I thought you would like to be buried here. You always said you wanted to be somewhere pretty and peaceful." he says as he sniffs the ocean air and looks out onto the sunset. "Doesn't get any better than this, huh?' He bends down. 

"Everyone misses you." he says as he holds back tears. He sighs. "Ever since you died, it feels like a part of me did. In a way, I guess it has. You were my other half, my better half. You would always seek reason while I would be ready to hit it head on." He falls to his knees and puts his head on the cross, unaware of a figure behind him. "God, I miss you so much. Even in a crowd, I still feel so alone." he whispers. A translucent hand lands on his shoulder and his body tenses. He lifts his head and slowly put his own hand right about the other one. A ghostly whisper is heard. "I promised I would never leave you alone, remember? Never." she says. Nathan smirks.


	9. Stranded Part 1

“Nate, are you sure this is the place?” I ask, blocking the sun with my hands. “According to the map, it is.” Nate says, looking up from the paper in his hands. I climbed off of our rental boat. “Well, the temple should be around here somewhere.” I say, walking forward. We approached the line where hot sand became think jungle. We slowly started to make our way. A few hours passed and still no temple. “Nate, are you sure the temple is here?” I say, wiping my forehead. He pulls out the map. His eyes widened. “What?” I ask. “Uh, I may or may not have grabbed the wrong map.” He states. “What?!” I ask. He nods. “Yeah, wrong map.” He says just as we heard something explode.

“What the hell was that?!” I say as we rush back to the ocean. Our boat was in pieces and smoke lingered from the recent explosion. I quickly climbed on board to see what the damage was. “Well?” Nate asks. I shake my head. “There’s no way we’re getting off of the island with this.” I say, worried. “Good thing it’s a rental, huh?” Nate joked. I scoffed. “Nathan, this is not something to joke about! We are stranded on a deserted island with no food, water, or shelter! I know for damn sure we aren't alone, either!” I say. Nate raised his hands in surrender. “Just trying to lighten the mood, Natty. Come on, we've handled things much worse than this.” He says as I search through the salvage. I picked up two walkie-talkies. I tossed one to Nate. “Here, somehow these didn't get blown sky high.” I say. 

“Sweet.” Nate says as we attach them to our belts. Just then, an arrow whizzed past my head. We turned to see tribal looking men running towards us. “Oh, crap. Run!” Nate says as I jump off the bow. Nate grabs my hand and we ran back into the trees. We ducked behind a fallen tree and peek out. We got a closer look at the men. They had war paint all over them and wore strange hats. Some had clothes that smelled like rotting flesh. “Is that….human skin?!” I whisper in disbelief. One snapped his head over this way and we quickly ducked down.

I made the mistake of moving my foot back. The twig that had been right behind my snapped, causing the whole tribe to look towards us. “Run!’ Nate yelled. We stood and took off. I ran like no tomorrow until I was out of breath. I stopped and put my hands on my knees. “That was a close one, huh?” I ask. No response.

I turned around. “Nate?” I call out. Nothing. I grabbed my talkie and turned it on. “Nate, do you hear me? Nathan?” I ask. My only reply was static. I walked a few steps forward before a rope latched onto my foot and I was pulled upwards. My gun fell out of my holster and hit the dirt. “Dammit!” I yell, reaching for it. It was just out of my grasp. I began to hear rustling in the trees. I stretched my hand as far out as it would go and I managed to grab the hilt of it. I point and raise the gun towards the sound, finger on the trigger. It was Nathan! 

“Whoa, whoa! Easy there, killer.” He says as I sigh in relief as I toss the gun beside me. “Thank God! Why didn't you answer me?!” I say, annoyed. “Sorry, I had to turn it off. A couple of them were on my trail.” He says as he walks over “They got the whole island booby trapped.” He says as he pulls out his machete. “Oh, really? I didn't know. All of the blood rushing to my head must be making me forget.” I say as he slices the blade through the rope and I crash to the ground. I push my hair out of my eyes and glare up at Nate. “Smartass.” He says as he puts out his hand and helps me to my feet. I grabbed my gun and placed it back in my holster. I noticed how dark it had become and I looked up. The once light blue sky had transformed into a dark gray that began to block the bright sun. Nate and I glanced at each other. “We better find shelter soon. It looks like it’s going to get bad real quick.” Nate says. I nod as I looked around, seeking potential places where we can make camp for the night. That’s when I spotted a cave. “Hey, what about in there?” I ask, pointing. 

We carefully approached the entrance. Nate peered inside. “Anything living in there?” I ask. “Doesn't look like it.” Nate’s voice echoes. I sigh in relief. “Good. Now, we need to find some supplies to make a fire.” I say as I head out into the woodland. After a few minutes of searching, we found all of the items we needed and met back inside the cave. Nate patted his pants. “Now, where did I put those matches?” He asks as I pull them out from my cargo pants pocket. I light one up and toss it into the wood. The flame shot to life.

“Nice.” Nate commented. I tried my best to hide my yawn. Nate chuckled. “You get some rest. I’ll take the first watch.” He states. I nod as I lay down on the cold ground, using my arms as a pillow.


	10. Promise Part 1

Nate Pov.. 

"Just go. Get as far away from this place as you can." Nate told Chloe as he began to walk away. "N-Nate!" I call as I try to sit up. Chloe tried to keep me still as Nate rushed over and bent down to my level. "You can't! Do you not realize what could happen to you!" I cry. Nate put his hands on my shoulders. "Natty, you know what could happen if I don't try to stop him." He says. I shake my head. "You promised you would never leave me, remember?" I say softly. He nods. "And I'm not leaving you, not for long." he says. "Promise?" I say. He smiles. "I promise." I nod in defeat. "Nathan, I'm scared." I confess. I'm not one to reveal my true emotions, I keep them hidden. Right now, however, I was terrified. Terrified of losing Nathan, of Elena not making it out of here, or even losing my own life. "Are you serious? I thought girls like you didn't get scared!" Nate joked, trying to lighten the mood. I knew he was just as scared as I was, but he was hiding it. I tried to laugh but it just caused another pain-filled moan to escape my lips.

"I need you to be strong. Can you promise me that?'" he asks quietly. I nod. Before he stands back up, I hug him as tight as I could. "I love you, Nathan." I say. At least if he doesn't come back or if I don't make it, I got to say my final words. "Love you too, Natalie." Nate says as he hugs me back. He pulls away and turned to Chloe. "Get them outta here." He told her, pointing to Elena and I. He jumped down to a lower ledge and was out of sight. Chloe, who had watched the whole scene, looked at me. "I can't support both of you." She says sadly. I tilt my head towards Elena. "Help Elena. She needs it more than I do." I say. "Can you walk?" she asks skeptically. I looked down at myself. Blood soaked my shirt and my whole body was numb from the pain. I looked up at Chloe. "Yeah." I say as I struggle to my feet. This caused my wounds to bleed even more. Chloe helped Elena up and put her arm around her neck and her other arm went around her waist. She turned to look at me.

"Natalie, we're gonna be going at a brisk pace. With the way your wounds are bleeding and you're going to have a lot more pressure on your body…" Chloe trailed. "I know." I reply. "You could bleed out before we get there!" Chloe warned. I nod. "Yes, but Elena can't even stand on her own. She needs to get out of here more than I do." I say. Chloe scoffed. "You and your brother, I swear." She mumbles under her breath. We began to head back to the entrance of Shambhala. By the time we had circled back around, Elena had passed out and I was close behind. Chloe laid her down on the floor. "Natalie, how are-"she began to say as I lurch forwards and everything went dark for a second. "Oh, shit!" she yells as she catches me. She laid me down next to Elena. "I bloody told you, didn't I?!" she snapped. I gave a light laugh. "Do I ever listen?" I say weakly as my world continued to get darker. The last thing I heard was Chloe. "I swear, if you two don't make it, Nate is going to kill me."


	11. Promise Part 2

Chloe Pov..

I looked out to see if Nate was anywhere in sight. I didn't see him and that deeply worried me. I looked at Elena and Natalie. Neither was moving and it looked like it they weren't breathing. I ran over and examined them. They were both pale from blood loss and unconscious. I felt for a pulse. It was slow but at least they were still alive. "Thank God." I breathe. Suddenly, I heard loud noises. I looked out to see Nate run out just as the building began to collapse. The bridge that we had crossed at started to crack as well. Nate somehow jumped and dodged his way through and jumped just as the last piece gave out. "Nate?!" I say. "Chloe!" he says as he pulls himself up. I ran towards him. "Nate!" I yell as the whole round shook. "Whoa! Jesus!" I yell as I stumble. He said something but I couldn't hear him. "What?!" I ask. He said something else but I still couldn't understand him. "Huh?!" I yell again. "Look out!" he yells as I turn my head to see a guardian. I yelp as it grabs me by the neck and lifts me up. My feet kick the air as another explosion happens and sends us all going down the broken bridge. "Get off me!" I yell as I dodge it's punches. Nate was shooting at it. Once Nate had weakened it, I kicked it in the face, knocking it off the bridge. I grab Nate's hand before he could fall to his death. "Got you." I say as I help him up. We ran back to Elena and Natalie.

Nate's pov..

"C'mon , we gotta get them out of here." I say. "Who takes who?" Chloe asks. "I'll get Nat, you get Elena." I say as I careful lift Natalie up and support her. Her eyes weakly opened and looked at me. She didn't say anything but her eyes we're a little brighter. "Hey. I kept my promise, now you gotta keep yours. Okay?" I say softly. She didn't say anything but she softly patted my shoulder. She glanced at Elena and pushed herself away from me. "Nat, what are you doing?!" I ask. "Chloe can help me walk. Elena can barely move. Carry her." She says softly. I nod as go over to Chloe and tell her what Nat told me. I carried Elena bridal style while Chloe supported Nat. We started up the stairs. "What the hell did you do back there?" Chloe asks me as the city started collapsing in on itself. "Oh, you know. Saved the world." I say casually. We made it out to the outside of the monastery. I laid Elena down on the fallen pillar and Chloe puts Natalie on one across the one where Elena lay.

Chloe pov.

I gently put Natalie on the pillar. Her eyes were now fully closed and she was unresponsive. "Natalie? Nat?" I ask, gently shaking her. I felt for a pulse. It was very faint. "Shit! Nate!" I yell. He came rushing over, watery eyed and shaky. I looked at him sadly. "Natty?" he asks. He bends down and clasps her cold hand tightly.

Nate pov..

"You're always telling me that if you make a promise, you're sworn to keep it. Well, I'm telling you this. You made a promise to me, remember? You promised to be strong and that's what I'm counting on you to be. You're gonna be just fine, alright? You'll be fine and everything will be back to normal. We'll talk in unison, crack jokes, and make fun of Sully like we always do. Just, don't do this. Please, don't do this." I say.


	12. Two little runaways

"Nathan, Natalie!" A nun called for us. We looked at each other in confusion before walking over to Sister Amanda, who was standing next to a young couple. "This is Mary and Jack Wilson." she introduced as she turned to them. "You wanted to adopt them?" she asked sweetly. Nate and I looked at them, shocked. "Just the girl." the man, Jack, said. "What?! No! I ain't going!" I say in horror. "Natalie!" Sister Amanda scolded. "No,no. It's alright. We'll pick her up tomorrow. Give her time to say her goodbyes." Mary said as I turned and ran. 

"Nat!" Nate yelled as I rushed up the stairs. I stormed into our room, slammed the door closed, and ran to my bed. I put my knees up to my chest, back against the wall, and started to sob. I soon heard a knock at the door. "Leave me alone!" I snap, wiping my nose with my hand.  
"Nat, it's me." Nate's voice said through the door. I climbed out of the bed and cracked the door open. Nate entered and shut the door behind him. He hugged me tight. "It's alright, Natalie." he says softly as I push him away. "No, it's not alright! We're gonna be separated! You'll be stuck in this hellhole while I'm with complete strangers!" I scream at him, tears flowing down my cheeks once again. Nate looked down. I turned around and wiped my eyes and nose. "We could leave, if you wanted to." Nate says quietly. I snap my head towards him. "What?"I ask in disbelief. 

"I mean, as long as we're here, this is gonna keep happening. Right?" he says. I nod in agreement. "So, when do we leave?" I ask lowly. We sat on the bed and began to plan. 

Later that night....

"Nat, wake up." A voice said as I opened my eyes. I could hardly make out Nate's figure in the darkness. I crawled out from under the covers. I had slept in a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt instead of my pajamas. I threw on my sneakers and pulled my book bag out from under my bed. I started piling clothes into it. "Try and make it as light of a load as possible." Nate whispered to me. I nod as I walk over to the bookshelf. I pick up one of the books we received on Christmas. A book about the famous English explorer Sir Francis Drake.  
Ever since we learned about him when we were seven, he became our role model. I looked from the pack to the book. I shake my head and place the book back. Not something essential. Plus, I can read it without needing the book now. "I already got some food from the kitchen." Nate states. "Alright. Now we just need to get out of here." I say as I zip up the bag and put the straps on. 

We slowly and carefully open the door. We crouched down and quietly made our way down the stairs. I stepped on one the wrong way, causing it to creak. We jumped over the railing and ducked down behind the staircase. "Hello?" one of the nuns asked, coming out of her room. We held our breath. "Hmm. Must be the old building makes those weird noises again." she says as we heard a door close. We peeked out. Not a single soul in sight. We quickly headed for the door and pulled it open. We exited and made sure the door didn't slam when it closed. 

"Whew! That was close." Nate says as we began to walk down the street. "You're telling me." I say, letting out a relieved sigh. " We should try and be out of town by sunrise. People are gonna be looking for us, you know." I say. "Yeah." Nate says. "If people ask who we are, what are we gonna tell them?" I ask. Nate looks at me and smirks. "We're Nathan and Natalie Drake, decedents of Sir Francis Drake himself." Nate says proudly. I smile."Drake. Yeah, I like that." I say as I smile. We continue our way down the sidewalk, our new lives starting right now.


	13. Saying Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sequel to Sacrifice

I was picking at my food on the plate. Ever since Nat died, I haven't been myself. I put the fork down and put my head in my hands. I looked up just in time to see the fork fly off of the plate and slam against the wall. I sighed. "Nat, I'm not hungry." I say to no one as Elena walked in. "Hey, Nate." she says softly. She saw the fork on the floor. "Just how were you planning on eating?" she somewhat jokes. "It wasn't me, it was Nat!" I say. Her face falls. "Nate..." she says softly. "No, honest! Nat, do something." I say. "Look, Nate. I-" she begins but she stops when the cup moves across the table. A figure appeared behind it. It was Natalie. She looked the same as she did the day she passed.   
"Natalie." Elena says softly. Nat smiled. She then cried out in pain as she flickered. "Nat, what's wrong?" I ask as she calms down. "The more time I spend here on Earth, a little part of my soul dies." she explains.

 

A bright light suddenly filled the room as a woman came out of it. "Mom?!" Nat and I say as I stand out of my seat. She smiled. "Hello darlings." she says as she approaches me. "Nate, you have made me so proud." she says as she puts her hand on my cheek. "Mom, why are you here?" I ask shakily. She looked to Nat. "I've come for you, dear." she says, holding her hand out. "It is time for you to come home." she says as Nat shakes her head. 

"No, i have to stay here with Nate!" Nat argued. "Natalie, go." I say as she looks at me in horror. She flew over to me. "No, I wanna stay here with you!" she says as tears fall down her face. I shake my head. "No." I croak. "If it causes you pain, then I don't want you to stay with me." I say as I began to cry. She hugged me. "I love you, Nathan!" she cries out. I hug her back. "I love you too, Natalie." I say as she walks over to Mom and grabs her hand. She looked at me, tears flowing. I wave at her as they go into the bright light. I sat down and began to cry. Elena hugged me as she began to cry as well.


	14. Arguement

"You are so stupid, Nathan!" I heard Nat scream from the living room. The museum heist was a complete wreak and we had barely made it out without being caught. The two twins had began to argue on whose fault it was. "I'm stupid?! You're the one who knocked the vase over that set off the alarm!" Nate yelled back. "Only because you freaking shoved me!" Nat yelled, face as red as Nate's. "Well, if hadn't had made that smart ass response, I wouldn't have done that! Besides, I didn't even push you that hard!" Nate yelled. "So, it's my fault?!" Nat challenged. "Everything is your fault!" Nate snapped back as Nat's eyes instantly filled with hurt and tears. She turned away and raced for her door. "Fine! Walk away! See if I care!" Nate yelled as he marched to his room. They slammed their doors simultaneously. 

I watched the twins throughout the night. They were clearly not on speaking terms, wouldn't even look at each other. They would argue over the littlest things. I finally snapped. I grabbed the due by their arms and led them over to the kitchen table. "Sit down." I ordered as they obeyed. I slammed my hands down on the table. "Goddammit,I have had enough of all this bickering! To be clear, it's both of your faults!" I told them. They looked at me with wide eyes. 

"You two know how dangerous this work can be. What if tomorrow, God forbid, if one of you don't make it through? Is this what your last words want to be? Screams of hate and tears?" I tell them as they slowly glanced at each other. Then they tried to pretend they were still mad as each other by turning their heads defiantly. I sighed. "Kids, look. You two have a very close and strong bond. Don't let a simple job ruin that." I say as they turned to each other. "I'm sorry."they say in unison. 

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you and screamed at you. Everything isn't your fault." Nate says. Nat smiles. "I shouldn't have said what I said and not have started this whole thing." she says as they hug each other tightly. "We good now?" I ask. They smile and nod. "Good. Now, I'm gonna go watch t.v. Wanna come?" I ask as I light a cigar. "Sure. I can make some popcorn and we could find a movie." Nat says as she goes over to the counter and pulls out a bowl and a couple of popcorn bags. Once we had everything, we put on a movie. After that one ended, I grabbed the remote. "So, you two wanna watch another?" I ask. All I received was silence. 

I look over and saw that both Nate and Nat had fallen asleep. Nat's head was on Nate's shoulder and his head was on top of hers. I smile and chuckle to myself as I grab a spare blanket from the closet and cover up the twins. I turned everything off before heading to bed myself.


	15. Falling

I now have a new story where you can ask Natalie any question you like! 

Nate, Sully, and I walked up to a bridge, the river below was rapid. If you fell in something like that, chances are you'll drown. "Okay, the ruins shouldn't to far ahead. Just after this bridge then a left." Nate says, looking down at the map. "Yeah, only one little problem." I say, pointing at the almost rotted wood. "What?" Nate asks innocently. "Nate, that goddamn bridge doesn't look safe." Sully says as I nod in agreement. Nate scoffed. "C'mon, we've crossed worse then that." He says. "Perhaps, but do you remember that one Elena fell through?" I countered. "I caught her!" he says as he places the map in his pocket. I sigh. "Alright, I'm in." I say. Nate smiles and we look to Sully. "To late to turn back now." he shrugs. Sully started to cross first, Nate in the middle, and I was last. We began to slowly make our way across. We all suddenly heard a loud creak followed by a snap.

"Did anybody else hear that?" I ask as the boards suddenly collapsed under me. I screamed in horror as Nate spun around and jumped to catch me, but it was too late. I screamed as I hit the water, searing pain erupting from my left foot as I hit rock bottom. The rapids were holding me under as I struggled to reach the surface. I finally got my head above the water, coughing as I did so. "Nat! Hold on, we're coming!" Nate yelled as he and Sully raced across the bridge. The current pulled me under once again as it carried me downstream. Eventually, the rapids got so rough that I couldn't get my body above surface. I started to reach out blindly, hoping to grab something to pull myself up. I spotted a rock and reached out for it. I gripped it tight and fought my way up. I took in a deep breath of fresh air as I climbed up onto the rocky land.

I sat up and put my arms close to my chest, shivering uncontrollably. That water was ice cold. I made sure my ring was still around my neck and was relieved to feel that it was still there. I tried to stand on both feet, but collapsed from the sharp pain in my foot. "That's not good. Dammit, that's not good at all." I say to myself as I pull out my phone. Of course, it didn't work. I scoffed. "Piece of crap." I say as I threw it into the water with a splash. I examined my foot. "I can move it, must just be a sprain. Still hurts like a bitch." I say. I looked around and began to laugh. "You've got to be kidding me." I chuckle. I was at the ruins, the ones we were heading to in the first place. I manage to stand without putting to much pressure on my injured foot. I limped to one of the building walls and slid down, holding my foot out.

I was still shaking from the water, and close to passing out from exhaustion, when I heard voices. "Sully, why the hell are we going here?! We need to look for Nat!" I heard Nate yell. "Kid, calm down. The river flows this way, chances are, Natalie would have a better chance of getting out." I heard Sully say. I saw them walked right by me, to busy looking in the river "Natalie?" Nate screamed. "Right here." I say quietly. They turned around and saw me. "Nat!" Nate yelled as he approached me, accidentally hitting my bad foot. I hissed in pain as he stopped dead in his tracks. "What? Where are you hurt?" he asks, bending down to my level. "Think I sprained my foot when I hit the rocks." I say, grimacing. He looked around and laughed. "Well, looks like the ruins were a dead end anyway." he says as him and Sully help me to my feet. "Yeah, what a waste." I say. "We tried calling your phone. Where is it, anyway?" Nate asks. I looked to the water. "There now." I say. "Jesus, your freezing." Sully says as Nate held me close to him.

"Tell you what. We get out here, get some dry clothes, check out that ankle, and I'll cook you up some hot soup. How's that sound?" Nate asks. I laugh. "Sounds like a plan to me." I say as we all laugh as we continue our way back to the jeep. We drove back to the house and they helped me out of the car and into the house. I changed clothes and allowed the boys to enter. I sat up in the bed, my back against the headboard. Sully put my bad foot up on some pillows and put some behind my back. "I'll go get the soup cooking. I will be right back." Nate says as he goes to the kitchen.

I waited for his return, trying to ignore the pain. Nate walked back into the room, holding a pill bottle and a glass of water. "Here, this should help." he says as he pops the lid and hands me two pills. I put them in my mouth and swallow the water. "Alright, let's take a look." Nate says as he sits down at the foot of the bed. I looked down at it. It was swollen and bruised. Nate gently tried moving it around. I cry out in pain. Nate looked at me. "Yeah, it seems pretty sprained to me." Nate says. "Well, what do we do?" I ask. "It means that you aren't getting out of bed anytime soon." Sully said in the doorway, a steaming bowl of hot soup and a bed tray in hand. I frown. "I'm bedridden? How am I going to do jobs now?" I say, slightly worried.

"Don't worry about need some time off anyway." Sully says as he puts the bed tray down on the bed and puts the soup on it. "Plus, we got some new books, remember?" Nate says, patting my shoulder. I smiled at both of them as I began to eat. After I ate, Nate brought the books in and sat down beside me, placing the books between us. They had elevated and put ice on my foot. After reading a couple of the books, I felt my eyes droop. "You tired?" Nate asks as I fail to hide a yawn. Nate picked up the books and put them on the dresser. "I let you sleep. Oh, I almost forgot!" Nate says as he reaches into his pocket. He pulled out a cell phone. "Sully got you a new one since your other one got soaked." he says as he puts it on the beside dresser. "I'll keep mine in my room. Call me if you need anything." Nate says as he hugs me. "Night, Nat. I'm glad you're okay." He says as hug him back.

Nate began to walk away. "How scared were you?" I ask. "What?" he asks. "When I fell into the water, how scared were you?" I repeat. He scoffed. "I wasn't scared!" He says, defensive. I laugh. "Yeah, okay." I say. "Honest! I knew you were perfectly safe." he says. I laughed even more. "Sure thing. Night Nate." I say as I lower my bandaged foot down and I pulled the covers over turned off my light and shut the door and I soon fell asleep.


	16. Post Heist Part 1

"Harry, where are the Drakes?" I ask as Harry scowls. "They got caught. We will too unless we get out of here." He say as he got in the passenger side of the van. I put the vehicle in drive and sped off. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Yeah, the Drakes have been taken care of. Plus, we found some information you would be very interested in. No, not the ships. I already knew about them. You ever heard of Shambhala?" he says as my eyes widen. I pull the van over and stare at him in shock as he finishes his conversation hangs up. "What?" he asks casually. "You planned this from the beginning?!" I yell at him. He scoffs. "Yeah,that's what he gets for trying to steal my girl." he says. He then glared at me. "Oh, yeah. I forgot. She was willing to run away with him." he says harshly. I remain silent.

"Fine, but what about Natalie? She didn't know anything about that!" I say. He gave a laugh. "You know them two are damn near inseparable. She wouldn't have came with me even if I did offer her a way out. She'd rather take the fall with her twin." he says. "Why didn't you offer them to work with us?" I ask. "Do you think that they would work for someone like Lazarevic? Them two think they have honor among thieves." he says, shaking his head. "As in Zoran Lazarevic? The crazy warlord?" I ask. He nods. "Are you seriously believing that this all of these clues lead to Shambhala?" I ask. He shrugs. "Boss says so. As long as I get paid, and the Drakes stay out of the way, I don't care." he says as start driving again. After a while, Harry told me to pull into an alley. "Alright, here's the plan." Harry says as we step out. "I'm gonna find us a new car. You get our stuff, but leave the Drakes behind. Wipe our prints and meet me at the hotel across the street. Got it?" he says as I nod. He walked away as I opened the back doors of the van.

I grabbed Harry's stuff and put it down on the ground. I looked behind me and grabbed Nate and Nat's bag. I unzipped it and shuffled through it until I found what I was looking for. I grabbed the small paper bag and pulled out its contents. I grabbed the two most important things and looked at him. The two straps that held the rings they had supposedly inherited was in my hand. They had took them off for the heist. I laid them back down and opened their wallets. There was a picture of Nate and Nat smiling in front of a temple, arms around each other. I sigh. "I'm sorry. I'll find a way to get you two out." I whisper to myself as I start placing everything back into the bag. As I picked up Nat's journal, a small card fell out of it. I picked it up and read the two words. "Victor Sullivan." I say as I looked at the number below. I flipped the card over and smiled to myself. "Emergencies only. Natalie, you little intelligent bitch." I laugh as I place the card in my pocket and finished placing everything in the plastic bag. I open my own bag and hid the stuff underneath my clothes. I closed the van doors and picked up our bags and started walking to the hotel. As soon as the opportunity arose, I would call the man and start planning to get the Drakes out of prison. Until then, I had to play pretend.


	17. Bar Fight

"C'mon, sweetheart. We can go back to my place and get to know each other." A man slurred. "I said no." I say sternly. After a successful job, Nate and I had decided to head to the local bar to celebrate. After all, we did just turn 21 a couple days ago. Nate had just gone to the bathroom when this biker stumbled up to me. He then noticed my necklace. "Hey, what's that? A marriage ring?" he asks as he reaches for it. I slap his hand away. "Don't touch me. Go back to your little gang and leave me the hell alone." I growl as the man grabs my wrist and pulls me off my stool.

"Let go of me!" I yell as I stomp on his foot. He lets go of me and holds his foot. I turned around to run but he grabs me by shoulders and spins me around. "You need to learn some respect, girl!" The man yells as he raises his fist. He began to swing down when someone caught his fist with their hand.

The man looked over to see Nate holding his wrist. "I wouldn't mess with her if I was you." Nate says lowly as the man pulled his hand out of Nate's grasp. "Come on, Nat. Let's get the hell out of here." Nate says as he put his arm around me in a protective manner, his eyes never leaving the man. We walked a couple steps forward when some of the man's gang members blocked the door. "Look, we don't want any trouble." Nate says as we put our arms down by our sides, balling them into fists.

"You two should thought that before messing with our boss!" One woman yelled, punching her fist in her palm. Nate and I looked at each other before the man behind us got Nate in a choke hold and pulled him back. I grabbed an empty beer bottle from the table beside us before smashing it on the back of the boss's head. He let Nate go and glared at me. "Come on, big boy!" I yell as he charged towards me. "Oh, crap!" I yell as I take off.

I raced around table by table, dodging the man's attempts to grab me. Nate was busy fighting off another guy. I grabbed a lamp off of a counter and swung it across the man's face, knocking the leader out. I sigh in relief just as I was slammed against the wall. "You stupid bitch!" A woman yelled as she punched me in the gut. I pushed her off of me as I gasped for breath.

I manage to stumbled to the bathroom and try to regain the ability to breath. I tried to raise my fists as the door opens. "Easy, Natty. It's me." Nate says as I lower my fists and cough."You alright? I saw the woman running over to you, but I couldn't get to you in time." he says as he puts his hands on my shoulders.

I nod. "Yeah, I'm okay." I say as the door busted open. "There you two cowards are!" the woman who knocked me against the wall yelled. "Oh, crap. Run!" Nate said as we bolted out of the bathroom into more goons. "Come here, bitch!" the woman snaps as she grabs me by the hair and pulls me back. I slam my elbow into her shoulder. She cries out in pain as I spin around and grab her by the collar of her shirt. "Sorry, that's not how I fight." I say as I punch her square in the jaw.

I looked to see one man had Nate's arms pinned behind him, another getting ready to punch him. Just as he threw his arm forward, Nate picked his feet up and kicked him, knocking him back. He then hit the man's nose with his head. The idiot let go of my twin as he held his now bloody nose. One man tried to grab me from behind, but I tripped him and slammed his head into a table, breaking it.

Little did I know, the leader was awake again. "Nat, look out!" Nate yelled as I felt someone's arm go around my neck and lift me off the ground. I tried kicking, but he failed to let me go. It then began to get harder for air to get to my lungs. An idea formed in my head as I screamed as loud as I could. My plan worked as he put his hand over my mouth. I then bit down on his hand and he yelled out. He let go of me to hold his injured hand.

"That was for insulting me." I say as I kicked him in the private parts before slamming my fist into the side of his face, knocking him out. "That was for putting my brother in a choke hold, you asshole." I say as I turn to the remaining enemies. I saw that Nate had got cornered by two goons so I grabbed a bar stool and knocked it up against a guy's skull. The other got me in the nose and Nate tackled him to the floor. I wiped my hand against my nose. I looked down at it to see it was bleeding.

I wiped my hand on my pants as Nate got hit by another woman. I responded by running over and slamming her head against the bar. I then looked to Nate and saw that he was defiantly gonna have a black eye. "Did you really just get hit by a girl?" I ask as he handed me a napkin. "Shut up." he says as he examines my nose. "Good news is that it isn't broken but it does looked bruised." he says as I laugh. He looks at me. "Why are you laughing?" he asks.

"You're gonna have a bruised eye and I'm gonna have a bruised nose. Shows how alike we are, huh." I say as Nate chuckles. "Let's just get back to the motel and get some ice." he says as he opens the door and I head outside. "I think they're gonna need more than that." I say, nodding my hand back towards the bar. Nate chuckled. "We Drakes whooped some major butt." Nate says as we high five each other.

"Alright, let's get back to the motel before the cops show up, shall we?" Nate says as we began to jog down the street back to the motel where we patched each other up.


	18. Punishment and Chores

According to the Uncharted Wiki, Nate knows many of the characters from the orphanage and that's where this idea came from. Enjoy!

"That's not fair! We didn't start that food fight, Mark did!" I yell at Sister Lexi. "Do not raise your tone at me, Ms. Grant. You and your brother should have thought about the consequences before starting that disgusting food fight." she scolded. Nate smirked. "You're right. The food is disgusting, but that's not the point." Nate says as I laugh. I saw fire light up in Sister Lexi's eyes. "Two more days of lunch duty for you both!" she says as she pushes us into the kitchen before slamming the door.

"Sorry about that, Natty." Nate says as we go over to the sink. "It's fine. I just wish they wouldn't blame us all the time." I say. "Then who else are they gonna punish, love?" A British voice asked. I turned around and splashed water on the boy. "Can it, Flynn!" I say playfully. "Hey, that was my favorite shirt." he says as he swips the liquid away. "So, what you in for?" he asks as he sits on the table.

"For 'starting' a food fight. It was really Mark, but do they ever believe us?" Nate asks as I slam a plate into the sink. "Wait, that was you two? Introducing the Drake twins, the orphanage's main trouble makers!" Harry announced. "Shut up. What did you do?" I ask. He smirked. "Pissed in the courtyard fountain on a dare. Got ten dollars out of the deal." he says as he smiles. "You're real proud of yourself, aren't you?" Nate asks. "Absolutely!" Flynn says as he nods.

I rolled my eyes. Flynn would do just about anything for extra money. He once flipped off one of the sisters for fifteen dollars. "You're so stupid, Flynn." I say as he points a finger at me. "You said a bad word, Drake! Another day of chores!" he screeched, voice mocking one of the nuns. I couldn't help but laugh. The door opened, revealing Sister Lexi's ugly head. "Do I need to separate you three?" she snaps as Nate pulled me close. "As if you could." Nate mumbled where only I could here. Harry did a mock salute. "No, ma'am." he says as she huffs and shuts the door.

"Are you even going to work?" I ask as Harry shrugs. I sigh as I hand him the broom. "Here, sweep the kitchen floor and knock down any of the cobwebs." I say. Harry huffed. "Bloody hell, that's a lot of work." he says as he takes it. "Shouldn't of pissed in the fountain then." Nate says. Harry had been transferred here a couple months after we changed our last name. We became friends pretty easy. Nate and I finished dishes and began to dust the counters and tables.

"How many days you got?" I ask Flynn. "Five. What about you two?" Harry says as Nate rolled his eyes. "It was one until Nate smarted off that old hag, now we got three." I say as Harry chuckled. "I'm gonna have to start calling you twins the troublesome duo." he says. "You come up with that one by yourself? Shocking." Nate says as Harry put Nate in a playfully headlock. "You boys better knock it off before we get in trouble. Again." I scold as Flynn let Nate go. "Better listen to your twin. She can be downright terrifying." Harry says as I nod. "You know it." I say.

We finished doing our chores and sat a table. "We still got thirty minutes of chore time. What you Drakes wanna do?" Flynn asks. We shrug. "I don't know." Nate and I say. Flynn chuckled. "If the resemblance doesn't give it away, that sure will." Harry says as he pulls out a deck of playing cards from his pocket. "Who's up for a game?" he asks as we nod.

We then began to play man different card games. After a while, I heard footsteps. We quickly gathered up the cards and Flynn pushed the back into the box and into his pocket. Sister Lexi walked in and we formed a perfect line. "I hope you three are learning your lessons. I shall see you tomorrow evening at the same time. You are dismissed." she says as we exit the kitchen.

"That was close, mates." Harry says as we chuckle. Harry gets in the middle of us and puts his arms around us. "You two aren't bad for a couple of history buffs." He jokes as I roll my eyes. "You ain't so bad for a greedy little boy." I reply as he scoffs. "I am not little, darling." he says as Nate laughs. "That's the only thing he disagreed with." Nate says as we all chuckled. "See you later, Flynn." I say as we all head back to our rooms.


	19. Sick

Natalie pov:

I woke up hearing Nate coughing up a lung. I switch the lamp on and I was horrified at what I saw. Nate was pale as a ghost with sweat flowing down his forehead and dark circles under his eyes. "I'm fine, Natty. Go back to bed." he croak as he began to cough again. He shot up and ran to the bathroom. My face curls up in disgust as I hear Nate. I walked into Sully's room. "Sully?" I ask, shaking him. "Huh? What is it, kid?" he asks as he sits up. "Nate's sick." I say as Sully gets out of bed and walks to our room. "I am not sick." Nate says in between shaky breaths. "Right. So you just look that horrible everyday?" Sully asks. Nate groans. "We still got that job in Germany?" I ask Sully. "Yeah, but it can wait since Nate's sick." Sully says. "No, no. You two go on ahead. I'll be just fine here." Nate tries as he began to vomit again. I turn my head to Sully.

"You go. I'll stay here and take care of Nathan." I say. "You sure you can handle this, kid?" Sully asks as he glances at my twin. "Sully, we've been taking care of each other long before anyone cared about us." I say. Sully smirked. "Who said I cared about you two?" I ask. I chuckle. "Not many people can handle kids. Especially twins who have a dark past." I say. Sully nods. "True. " he says as he goes into his room and gets his bags. "Are you positive you got this?"He asks me as he heads for the door. I sighed. "Yes, Sully." I say as Sully turns around and ruffles my hair. "I can stay, you know." he says. I shake my head."The client didn't seem like he's one that's going to take no for an answer." I say. He opens the door and turns towards me. "You know I'm only gonna be gone for a day or two, right?" he asks. I nod."Yeah. I know you'll come back. I trust you." I say as Sully smiles. "See ya soon." he says. "Get well soon, Nate!" Sully yells. Nate groaned in response. I shut the door and walked into the bathroom.

"C'mon, let's get you resting." I say as I lead him to the bed. "Natty, this isn't where the T.V is." Nate says as I laugh. "Right. What was I thinking?" I ask as Nate gave out a small chuckle. "You wasn't." he says. I rolled my eyes and took Nate to the couch in the living room. I gently laid him down and gave him the remote. "Thanks, Natty." Nate says as I go and retrieve a pillow and blanket. I put the pillow behind his head and put the blanket over him. I felt his forehead. As expected, it was burning up. "Stay here." I order him as I go into the kitchen and put a washcloth under some cold water. I squeezed any excess water out and folded it up into a rectangle. I walked back to the couch and gently laid it on his head. He seemed to relax more.

I walked back into the kitchen and took out a cooking pot. I got out one of the few cookbooks Sully had and I began to flip threw the pages. I found what I was looking for. "Chicken noodle soup." I say to myself. It's original, yes, but easy to make. If I had everything to make it, that is. I began to look through the cupboards. "Nat, are you cooking?" I hear Nate ask in disbelief from the living room. "Nate, hush. You need to rest." I scold. "Yes, ma'am." he says. I get all the ingredients and begin to cook. Once it was done, I got out two bowls and a ladle. I carefully poured some into a bowl, grabbed a spoon, and walked over to Nate.

"Here." I say gently as I help him sit up. "I'm not that hungry." he says as he takes the bowl. "Try to eat some of it. You need to keep something in your system." I say as I take the cloth of his head and go rinse it again. When I came back, Nate had put the bowl on the table, laid back down, and went to sleep. After I ate, I looked at the clock. 10 o'clock. I yawn as I place the cloth back on Nathan's head. He seems to have eaten some of the soup and is resting good. I go and put the remaining soup into the fridge and leave a note for Sully. I ball myself up on the armchair. I could go to my bed but Nate might need something or his fever might spike. Besides, Sully will be home in a couple of hours anyway. I let my eyes close.

I was awakened by someone gently shaking my shoulder. "Kid, wake up." I heard Sully's voice say as I open my eyes and sit up straight. "Sully?" I ask as I stretched. "Yeah. I just got back from Germany." he says as I yawned. "How did it go?" I ask as I rubbed my eyes. He nods. "Successful. What were you doing sleeping on the chair? That thing will give you a bad crick in your neck." he asks as I shrug. "Felt like it, I guess." I say as he goes into the kitchen and reads the note. He laughed quietly. "Okay, so you made soup and stayed close to your sick twin because you just felt like it?" he asks.

"Alright, you got me." I say, raising my hands slightly. He smirks and shook his head. "Go onto bed, Nat. No sense you sleeping in the living room when there's a bed in the next room." he says as I glance at Nate. He did seem to be sleeping well. Sully put his hand on my shoulder. "Nat, he's gonna be alright. Let him sleep it off. The last thing I need you both ill and cranky. You two bicker enough as it is." he says as I look at him. "We do not bicker!" I say as he gives me a look. "Okay, maybe a little." I say as I walk to my room. "See you in the morning?" I ask. He nods. "Sure thing, kid." he says as I enter my room and shut the door.

Sully pov..

I sighed as I sat down in the chair and lit a cigar. "I'm already sick and light one of those nasty things?" I heard Nate say as he woke up. I chuckled. "Stop your complaining. Seems like your sister took good care of you." I say as he nodded. "Yeah. I learned something too. Don't question her if she's cooking. A mistake I'm not gonna make again." he says as he wiped his eyes. "How you feeling?" I ask. "Better. Still feel like crap, but not as bad." he says as I stand. "There any soup left?" I ask. "Should be. Natty fixed a whole pot full." he states as I open the fridge and take out the pot. "So I can see." I say as I take a bowl out of the cabinet, a spoon and ladle from the dishwasher, and put the food in the microwave. I waited as it heated up.

It soon dinged and I carefully removed the hot bowl. I sat down at the table and began eating. Nate coughed as he turned on his side. "Nat asleep?" he asks. I nod as I swallow the spoonful of soup in my mouth. "Yeah. When I came back, she was curled up on the chair." I say. "Really? I figured she would have went to the bedroom." he says as I chuckle lightly. "She was worried about you." I state. He looks at me. "On the streets, getting sick could be he death of you." he says as I look at him. He shakes his head. "I'm going to bed." he says as he manages to get on his feet. He sneezed as he cleared his throat. "Night, Sully." he says. "Night, Nate. Get well." I say as he laughed slightly. "I got Nat as a doctor, I think I'm gonna be fine." he says as he disappeared into the dark room.

I soon finished my food and put the dirty dish in the sink. I stretched as I went to check on the twins. I peered inside as the hall light flooded the room. Nate was on his stomach, not as pale as he was when I left. I looked over at Natalie. She was on her side, facing the door. I chuckled as I shut the door. Those two knew how to take of themselves and each other. I wondered about they're past, but I wasn't going to push it. They'll tell me whenever they're ready. I yawned as I rubbed the back of my neck. A nap doesn't sound to bad, actually. I went into my room and fell into the bed. A couple days later, Nate was his healthy self again.


	20. Bowling

"Where exactly are we going?" Natalie asked me. I sighed. "Bowling, kids." I say as they nod. It's been two weeks since I picked the teens up off of the street. They're still anxious and jumpy around me, but it's improving. If only slightly. A commercial for the local bowling alley had came on last night. The twins had asked me what bowling was. It shocked me at how book smart the kids were, yet had little knowledge of the world around them. They looked kinda nervous. "It'll be fun." I say as they looked in the mirror. "Right." they say doubtfully. Once they get inside, they'll warm up to the idea.

I pulled into the parking lot and we got out. They looked at the building skittishly. I patted them on the shoulder. I noticed how they jumped and tensed up. I walked forward and looked back at them. They looked at each other before slowly following me. We entered the place as the music played loudly. It was almost empty which seemed to relieve the duo a little. "This way." I say as they looked around. "It's loud, Sully." Nate says as they covered they're ears. I chuckle. "You'll get used to it." I say as they nod slightly. They're defiantly not like other kids they're age.

We walked over to the counter and I paid for a lane and some shoes. The twins told me what size shoe they were wearing and the cashier nodded. She handed me the shoes and I held out two pairs to the twins. They took them, sat down, and put them on without a word. I did the same and chuckled lightly. "Always thought these shoes were ugly as homemade sin." I joke, trying to loosen the duo up. They laughed a little. "Yeah. They're slippery too." Nat says as I chuckled a little. "That's normal. It helps you when your bowling." I say as I sat down at the little machine. "What does that do?" They ask.

"It's to set up the pins, put your names in, and keep score." I explain. "Score? How do you keep score?" Nate asks. Man, these kids will ask every question under the sun if they find the subject interesting. "I don't know how they score bowling. The machine just does it." I say as I put all of our names in. "Okay, now it's time to go get the bowling balls." I say. "Is this like soccer? Nate and I played a lot soccer back in Cartegena." Nat says as I chuckle. "No, it's not like soccer." I say as we approach the racks full of bowling balls. "Why are there so many?" Nate asked.

"They are different weights. You don't want one that's to light nor to heavy. Kinda like Goldilocks trying to find the right porridge or bed." I say. "Who?" they ask. I shake my head. "Never mind." I say as I pick up an eight pound ball. I held it out to Nat. She backs away slightly and put her hands up to her chest. "It ain't gonna bite ya, kid." I reassure. She stepped up some. "Just put your middle finger and your ring finger in the side-by-side holes and your thumb in the other one." I instruct as she cautiously reaches her hand out.

She does what I told her and I looked at her. "Nice job, Nat." I say as she gave a faint smile. "Now, I'm gonna let it go and see if you can hold it. Okay?" I ask as she gives a more confident nod. I let go of the ball as Nat put her other hand under it. "Well?" I ask. "Not to light. Not to heavy, Just right." she says as I nod. "Good." I say as I look to Nate. "You want the same pound ball as your sister to start off with?" I ask as he nods. "Sure." he says as I hand him a ball and instruct him like I did Nat.

He did good as well and we made it back to our lane. "Okay, put the balls in the circle thing." I say. "What does that do?" Nate asked. "When you bowl and it passes the pins, it comes back through that." I explain as they nod. "So, what now?" Nate asks as I picked up my ball. "Now, you gotta roll it and try to keep it from going into the gutters, as they're called." I say. "So, if the ball goes into the 'gutters', we get no points?" Nat asks. "And the more pins we knock over, the more we get?" Nate added. "Exactly." I say.

I looked at the full set of pins. "Okay, now you just roll the ball." I say as I move one foot back and rolled the object down the lane. I knocked down all but two pins in my two tries. I looked up at the screen. "Alright, Nate. Your turn." I say as Nat looked at me. "Why does he go first?" she asks. "That's because I'm the older twin." he said proudly. Nat looked slightly annoyed as she opened her mouth. "By a minute and a half." she snapped as I rolled my eyes. "Kids." I say as they quit the minor bickering.

Nate stood up and picked up the ball like I showed him. He walked up to the lane and rolled the ball down. It landed in the gutter. His shoulders fell as I cautiously patted him on the shoulder. "You still got another try, kid." I say as the ball came back. He picked it up and sighed. "Don't be so tense. Relax, take a breath. Don't just randomly roll it and hope you hit one." I say as he nodded. He walked back up to the edge of the lane and took a breath. "C'mon, Nate!" Nat encouraged from her seat, clapping her hands. I looked at her and chuckled lightly. She was watching intently, waiting to see what would happen.

Nate smiled slightly as he rolled the ball down the lane. One by one, the pins fell. Nat cheered as she got up and hugged him. He hugged her back, smiling brightly. "Nice job. You got a spare." I say as they looked at me. "What's a spare?" they ask as I chuckled. "If you knock all the pins down, it's called a strike. If you miss some but knock them all down on the second try, it's called a spare." I explain. "So, in this, a strike is a good thing?" Nate asks. "That's confusing." they say as I laughed. "Yeah, you kids have a point there." I say as I look at Nat. "You're up, kid." I say to her. She looked unsure as Nate patted her back. "You got this, Natty!" he reassured as she hesitantly nodded.

She tossed the ball and we watched as it approached the pins. My eyes went wide as all the pins fell, knocking against each other. "Strike!" Nat said happily, smiling bigger than the sun. Nate rushed to her and they hugged. "Nice one, Nat!" he says as they laughed. I let the kids have they're moment before ruffling their hair. They chuckled as they playfully swatted my hands away. "Knock it off, Sully!" they said as they grinned up at me.

I smiled as they looked up at the screen above the lane. "You're go, Sully!" Nat says as they sat down. I laughed as I picked up the bowling ball. I rolled only for it to go into the gutter. I could hear two pairs of snickering coming from behind me. "Something funny, kids?" I ask as they tried to silence they're laughter. "N-No!" they say, still chuckling. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as the ball came back. "Let's go, Sully!" I heard Nate encourage as well as Nat. I nodded. "Thanks." I say as I rolled it only to get the same result. They laughed. "Are you sure we shouldn't be teaching you?" Nat mocked as Nate continued to laugh.

"Don't get to cocky, kids. You're that enough as it is." I say as I took a seat. Nate jumped up more eagerly this time. That's a good sign. I watched him as he bowled. It was then Nat's turn again. I saw that they both were more eager and confident now. At least they weren't afraid that the ball would eat them anymore. We finished playing the game as I hit the button on the machine that you hit when you are finished bowling. "Are you kids up for another game?" I ask as I heard two tired yawns.

I chuckled as I turned around to see two worn out Drakes. "Guess not, huh?" I ask as they nodded lightly. I stood up as the kids grabbed the snacks and drinks I had bought them. We gave the woman the shoes back and headed out to the car. I then noticed it was dark out. "Must have been a long game.." I heard Nat mumble sleepily. "Guess so." Nate said as they crawled into the back seat.

I got into the driver's side and cranked up the car. I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving back to the motel, the radio softly playing. "You two have fun?" I ask. "Uh huh." they said softly, they're heads against the windows. I chuckled as I put my attention back on the road. "Wasn't as bad as you thought, huh?" I ask. No response.

"Nate? Nat?" I ask as I peer up at the rear-view mirror. I faintly smiled as I saw the two sleeping twins. They're heads were rested up against the windows as they're hands were on top of each other. I guess to make sure the other one was still there. I wanted to know more about them and they're past, but you can't rush those things. If they ever want to talk about it, they can approach me. I won't force anything out of them. I looked back out onto the road as I smiled to myself. Sure, I may have purposely gotten two gutter balls, but I wasn't gonna ruin the twins good time. They seemed to enjoy themselves and those were the biggest smiles I have seen out of them since I met them. Plus, they haven't left yet. Must be doing something right.


End file.
